University Events

RWU Religion and State Conference 2013

The Roger Williams University Religion and State Conference of 2013 will take place April 12-14. Our theme this year is "Narrative and Negotiation: Agency, Religion and the State" and will focus on emerging stories of engagement, struggle and dialogue between individuals, groups, and states.

This year's conference highlights a number of scholars presenting on an array of topics from 19th century American society to church and state relations in the Middle East — and everything in between. Steven Green and Ivan Petrella, Ph.D., will be the featured keynote speakers. Green is the Fred H. Paulus Professor of Law and Adjunct Professor of History at Willamette University in Salem, Ore., and has written "The Bible, the School, and the Constitution: The Clash that Shaped Modern Church-State Doctrine," "The Second Disestablishment: Church and State in the Nineteenth Century," and over 30 scholarly articles on religion, history and the law. Petrella is Academic Director of Fundacion Pensar, a public policy think tank in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and previously, served as a tenured associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Miami; he has written "The Future of Liberation Theology: an Argument and Manifesto," "Beyond Liberation Theology: a Polemic," in addition to a number of others books.

The conference begins Friday, April 12, at 9:00 a.m. and concludes with the closing panel on Sunday, April 14, at 9:00 a.m. Registration is $100 and must be submitted by Wednesday, March 20. The conference will be open to walk-in attendees but meals will not be available to walk-in guests. Please visit http://rwu.edu/academics/conferences/religion-and-state for more information and a conference schedule.